The "Hour of Code" Teaches Computer Science to Students

Photos courtesy of William Hallman

"Every student should have the opportunity to learn computer science." That was the motto for this year's "Hour of Code." Students in grades third through eighth took part of the 155,000 events worldwide to complete the "Hour of Code," which gives students the chance to jump into a field "that can change the rest of their lives!" said Library Science teacher Mr. Hallman. Mr. Hallman had students work with a code called "blockly" to make animations in a screen perform a task. Students chose between three coding options: Minecraft, Star Wars, or Anna and Elsa from the movie, "Frozen." Each coding exercise contained the blocks of code and a set of directions for students to follow and be successful.

The "Hour of Code" is a national effort to bring computer science skills to students at all grade levels. "Blockly" is different from the coding program Java because the code is built into the "block." More information on coding can be found at www.code.org.